The Universe of Worker-Recovered Companies in Argentina (2002-2008): Continuity and Changes Inside the Movement
Argentina’s movement of worker-recovered companies (WRC) gained significant public visibility during and in the years following the institutional crisis of December 2001. In light of company shutdowns and dramatic increases in unemployment
rates, many workers promoted the reopening of workplaces abandoned by their owners, giving origin to a movement that still exists to this day. Collectively, the actions centred on workplace and job “recoveries” have made up the distinguishing feature--or the “identity”--of the movement. Even though today’s conjuncture is somewhat different than
Argentina at the turn of the millennium, the universe of WRCs continues to expand. Moreover, the movement’s new actors inscribe the earlier experiences of older WRCs onto their newer recoveries via their reinterpretation of collective memory. The
objective of this article is to describe and analyze the characteristics of the expansion of the universe of WRCs in Argentina and compare the limits and potentialities between
newer and older experiences of workplace recoveries. It also explores the specifics of how this expansion is due to a historical rereading of older worker experiences that influence how newer WRC protagonists self-identify with the broader WRC movement.
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